Administrative history

The Africa Inland Mission (AIM) was established as a Protestant non-denominational (later interdenominational) evangelical faith mission by Scottish-American missionary Peter Cameron Scott in 1895. With its first headquarters situated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, AIM was initially titled the Philadelphia Missionary Council (PMC). In August 1895, with the support of local benefactors, Scott led a small party of missionaries to Africa, and, within the year, established four missions in Kenya. From this modest beginning he hoped to found missions across Central and Eastern Africa in regions where Christianity had little or no presence. When Scott died of fever in 1896 Charles Hurlburt, president of the Pennsylvania Bible Institute, as well as the PMC, assumed the directorship of AIM, effectively combining leadership of home and overseas operations in the same role until his retirement in the 1920s.

Enthusiasm for the work of the Mission was strong in United Kingdom and in 1906 a British AIM branch was established. The first iteration of the new British Home Council operated only briefly and was disbanded in March 1908. Administrative and financial responsibility for the Mission in the UK then passed temporarily to the British Secretary. In January 1913 Hurlburt presided over the re-establishment of the British Home Council (known initially as the English Council) of the Mission with Reverend J. Stuart Holden serving as its first president and Reverend D.P. Robinson as Home Director. At this point the Home Council, now based in New York, was renamed the American Home Council (later the North American Home Council). Even at this early period the views of the two home councils were not always harmonious.

The role of home councils, as originally conceived by Scott, was to support mission work in the field through fundraising and by recruiting and sending missionaries to Africa. Mission activities in were to be managed independently, with no supervision from the home council. In this way decision making fell to field staff in the best position to evaluate local conditions. This explicit separation of authority began to erode almost at once during Hurlburt’s directorship, though the accrual of influence and authority by the home councils proceeded incrementally.

In addition to the American and British Home Councils AIM established local and international committees in Scotland, Wales, Ireland, South Africa, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands and France. These committees functioned almost exclusively to raise funds and recruit missionaries. They did not govern or exercise operational or administrative control over the Mission.

Operational management of Mission activities in Africa was carried out through field councils under a field director, the first being organised in Kenya as the Kenyan Field Council. As the extent of AIM operations grew to encompass German East Africa (now Tanzania), the Belgian Congo (now Zaire), French Equatorial Africa (now Central African Republic), Uganda, Sudan (now South Sudan) and The Comoros, the number of field councils increased. A 1935 AIM leaflet reports the extent to which Scott’s aspirations had become fact with 224 missionaries in service, supported by 1,600 native pastors, evangelists and teachers and over twenty-thousand converts in preparation for baptism. Fifty-four missions were then active amongst twenty-five different tribes.

The early de-centralised character of AIM governance was challenged by its own expansion through the first half of the 20th century. Technological improvements in communication and transportation further enabled a more joined up approach to Mission management. Major revisions to the AIM constitution in 1955 brought the hitherto autonomous field councils together under a new Central Field Council in an effort to improve the coordination of AIM activities across Central and Eastern Africa. A new international conference was established to act as a governing body for Mission as a whole. The role of International General Secretary was created to lead this new entity though considerable authority remained vested with the home councils. In 1972 the Central Field Council and the international conference were combined to form the International Council of AIM under the International General Secretary.

A longstanding goal of AIM was to sufficiently embed Christian teaching and instruction within local communities to enable them to establish and operate their own churches. Planning for an African denomination began in 1939 and the African Inland Church (AIC) was founded in Kenya in 1943. The proliferation of independence movements across Africa following the Second World War highlighted the ambiguous relationship between the Mission and the AIC. The transition to independence brought with it a desire for the AIC to be led and run by Africans, and for Church property to similarly pass into local hands. AIM resisted calls for devolution, desiring instead to retain control of the AIC. Though opinion within the Mission was divided on the subject, political developments in Africa made devolution a reality by the 1970s.

Though the Mission focused its energies on evangelism in Africa, missionaries were involved in a variety of undertakings including medical clinics, religious education, drafting grammars in local languages and building missions, churches and schools. Missionaries worked closely with colonial officials, though they could be critical of government policy, as was the case during the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya. AIM also engaged with other missionary and religious organisations working in Africa including the Church Missionary Society, Church of Scotland Mission and British and Foreign Bible Society.

The British Home Council devoted considerable energy to communicating the work of the Mission to its domestic audience. AIM published its own magazine, Inland Africa, originally titled Hearing and Doing. Initially, the American version was circulated in the UK with a British supplement, but by 1917 a separate British edition was in print. The Council also published a young people’s version of the magazine titled Young Africa linked to the youth branch of AIM, the League of Young Archers. In addition to raising funds and seeking missionaries the Council organised the AIM Helpers’ Union, an umbrella association providing a variety of opportunities for individuals to support the work of the Mission. A key component of the Helpers’ Union was the Prayer Union (PU). PU branches operated across the country to hold directed prayer meetings in support of AIM objectives. The Council published a prayer booklet, The Intercessor, for use at PU meetings. Liaison between local PU secretaries and the Council was carried out by member liaisons referred to as “links”. By the late 1930s the PU counted over 2,000 members. The Helpers’ Union also encouraged members to organise lantern slide lectures, talks and deputation work.

In February 1983 a new constitution was ratified changing the name from Africa Inland Mission to Africa Inland Mission International with Sending Councils organised in Australia, the UK, Canada, South Africa and the United States. The British and American Home Councils continued to function along with national and regional committees. During the 1980s the title British Home Council was shortened to British Council, and later again to the UK Council. As of 2024 AIM International continues to work in its historic sphere of Central and Eastern Africa while also operating in nations further afield including Chad, Niger, Angola, Namibia, Lesotho, The Seychelles and Madagascar. The UK home office is located in Nottingham.